Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is shuffling his senior military advisers at the Pentagon to fill vacant top-level positions as an ongoing feud with Sen. Tommy Tuberville over the Defense Department’s abortion policy shows no signs of resolving.
With neither side showing signs of giving in, Mr. Austin issued a memo to senior military officials last week outlining what the Defense Department could do to “mitigate the disruption” resulting from the Alabama Republican lawmaker’s blanket hold on Senate confirmation of all military generals and admirals.
The first-term senator has effectively blocked a slew of high-level nominations and command assignments in protest of a Pentagon policy to fund travel expenses for service personnel who have to travel beyond the state where they are based for abortion services. Mr. Austin issued the policy shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Anti-abortion activists contend the policy is equivalent to using taxpayer money to fund the procedure.
But Mr. Tuberville’s one-man campaign to force the Pentagon to back down has sparked a fresh fight, one that critics say is harming readiness and morale across the armed services.
“This unprecedented, across-the-board hold is having a cascading effect, increasingly hindering the normal operations of this department and undermining both our military readiness and our national security,” Mr. Austin wrote in the memo outlining his planned workaround. The memo was made public Monday.
The Defense Department said 301 nominations for generals and Navy flag officers are on hold. The Democratic-controlled Senate could take up each nomination individually. However, Democratic leaders say that the move would take up an impractical amount of time on the Senate floor.
On Friday, Gen. James McConville, the Army Chief of Staff, retired and passed the responsibility of running the service to Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George. The Army now joins the Marine Corps in being led by an interim leader whose ability to act is limited without the full force of a Senate confirmation.
Gen. David Berger, the former commandant of the Marine Corps, retired last month. His successor, Gen. Eric Smith, officially the assistant commandant, has been acting commandant since then.
“For the first time in the history of the Department of Defense, two of our services will be operating without Senate-confirmed leadership,” Mr. Austin said during Gen. McConville’s retirement ceremony. “The failure to confirm our superbly-qualified senior uniformed leaders undermines our military readiness.”
The memo from Mr. Austin outlines several possible strategies to “mitigate the harm” caused by the hold. Incumbent heads of commands may be asked to remain in place until their successor has been nominated, confirmed and appointed to the position.
Officers who would assume the role of the head of a military organization due to normal succession, such as a deputy or vice commander, may take the position in an acting or temporary capacity even if they haven’t been nominated for the job.
The Pentagon’s three and four-star leaders who are candidates to remain in place will be considered on a case-by-case basis for retention in their position. In “extraordinary cases,” two-star generals and admirals not in the usual line of succession may be assigned to head an organization in an acting capacity, whether or not they have been nominated for the job, according to the memo.
Mr. Tuberville argues the Pentagon’s abortion policy is a clear indication that President Biden and Mr. Austin are more focused on divisive social issues rather than national security. Mr. Biden, the senator notes, supported the Hyde Amendment banning federal funding of abortions before switching his position upon winning the White House.
Mr. Biden “is breaking a law that he voted for as a senator, forcing taxpayers to facilitate thousands of abortions through the military — even late-term abortions,” Mr. Tuberville tweeted last week. “Joe Biden can spare me lectures about military readiness.”
Mr. Austin and Mr. Tuberville have spoken with each other three times over the phone since March, the last time on July 18, Pentagon officials said. President Biden has called on Mr. Tuberville’s fellow Republicans to pressure him to drop his hold on nominations, but so far to no avail.
“We’ve been very clear about the potential impact of these holds on military readiness. That continues to be the secretary’s position,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Defense Department spokesman, told reporters this week. “We’ll continue to do what we can to provide any information that the senator’s office requests as it relates to why we would hope that these holds could be lifted.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.